Saint Ignatius High School

Etymology Word of the Week

Director of Admissions Pat O'Rourke '90, a self-proclaimed "word nerd," brings you his Etymology Word of the Week. Every other week he presents an online Etymology lesson just for fun!
As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd."  Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here, then, is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

Relic - "a surviving memorial of something past; an object having interest by reason of its age.” From the Latin verb relinquere meaning “to leave behind, abandon, forsake” which itself comes from the Latin prefix re- meaning “back, again” and the Latin verb linquere meaning “to leave.” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).

RELATED WORDS/PHRASES - relinquish, derelict (originally meant "deserted ship OR ship that was left behind at sea or the shore")

SAMPLE SENTENCE - "Many pilgrims used to travel to Europe to view the relics of early Christian martyrs."

FINISH THE PHRASE - We'll cross that bridge... (scroll for answer)




























Answer: ...when we come to it.